Jeremiah Neill
Commanding General Jeremiah Robert Neill, Starfleet Marine Corps (August 17, 2301- ) is a fictional character created by Joshua Underwood in the world of Star Trek roleplaying. Neill has been portrayed by Stephen Lang, known for his stage work as well as his film work, particularly his appearances in the American Civil War movies Gettysburg (as General George Pickett) and Gods and Generals (as General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson), since 2002. Underwood felt that Lang's performances - the eccentricity in some, the deadly seriousness in others - made a perfect combination for what he had in mind for Neill. Origins Neill has a long military ancestry. One of his ancestors was Colonel J.C. Neill, the commander of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, who was called away on personal business prior to the great battle against the Mexican army of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. In more recent days, Jeremiah's father, Daniel, had been a Starfleet admiral - in fact, he had taken the vacant seat left by Kiran Joshmaul in the Starfleet General Staff when Joshmaul was removed in 2276. In 2298, Daniel Neill had led the Starfleet task force against the fledgling Reydovan Empire. Daniel was arrested, and forced to serve the Empire. He married a noble woman in 2300, and their first child, Jeremiah, was born on August 17, 2301. In his youth, Neill was considered to be a bully; academically, he suffered, but he was very athletic and exhuded a natural talent for leadership. Unfortunately, that talent went to street gangs in Easthaven. By his high school years, Neill's future was very much up in the air; he was very violent, always eager to hurt something. Someone who recognized this right away was General Daniel Longstreet, the commander of the Imperial Marine Corps. He interviewed Neill in 2316, and told him that if he managed to work on his academics, he would be able to meet the criteria for enlistment in the Imperial military; Emperor Joshmaul made it specifically clear that he did not want simpletons in his military forces. Neill accepted Longstreet's offer, and two years later managed to turn things around. In 2318, he graduated high school, and was able to enlist. Early Military Service Neill enlisted in the Imperial Marine Corps on June 15, 2318. Within a year, he was recommended by his commander for officer's training, saying, "We've got a general in the works here, you just watch." At the time, there was no military academy on Reydovan Prime, so Neill was sent to Earth, to the Virginia Military Institute - the school where his idol, Stonewall Jackson, had taught before the American Civil War. Neill became a quick learner at VMI, and graduated near the top of his class in 2322. He kept the old-style uniform and the old traditions, still used by VMI cadets today. When he returned to Reydovan Prime, he seemed more mellow than he had been, but the fierceness in his eyes made it clear that this was not a man to trifle with. The Sha'kurian War Neill's greatest triumph came during the Reydovan Empire's war with the Sha'kurian Duchies. He had started that war as a colonel, but was promoted three times over the course of that campaign. In the "Charge of Neill's Ninety" on July 1, 2349, Neill led a smaller fleet (originally of 100 ships) against a force of 350 Sha'kurian carriers and their fightercraft. Neill lost only ten ships, the Sha'kurians, almost all of them. Only 58 Sha'kurian ships were left to Neill's 90 when the Sha'kurian commander surrendered. He left the battlefields of the Sha'kurian War as a lieutenant general. Starfleet Service Jeremiah Neill resigned from Imperial service at the behest of his mentor, Daniel Longstreet, in 2372, and follows his nephew Jonathan Ross into the Starfleet Marine Corps at the rank of Major General. He is promoted to commander of the SFMC in 2375, following Longstreet's apparent death during the Battle of Cardassia. Neill was a longtime advocate of the Patton-class gunship project, intended to create a gigantic vessel with every form of weapon imaginable, designed to terrify an enemy into submission without firing a shot - and also designed for planetary bombardment when the situation called for it. However, it has been denied time after time by the chief of Starfleet Operations - his nemesis, Kiran Joshmaul. Neill was both ruthless and ambitious as commander of the SFMC, and aspired to free the Marines from the bureaucratic control of Starfleet Command in general, and Joshmaul (who abdicated after the end of the Dominion War to return to Starfleet) in particular. The two men had a falling-out when Neill insulted the Emperor for his unwillingness to aid the Federation during the war with the Dominion. His nephew, Jonathan Ross - a 28-year-old brigadier general - was his closest confidant and supporter during this time, even though Ross was beginning to have his doubts about Neill's performance due to his egotistical nature. What Really Happened to General Longstreet? Neill had come under fire for Longstreet's apparent death for months following the end of the Dominion War. He was investigated by Starfleet Command before his task force returned to Earth, but the results were inconclusive because of the major scramble following the bloody conflict. However, another investigation led by Kiran Joshmaul himself led to a very different story... It is widely believed that Longstreet did not die of his injuries, but was apparently betrayed by General Neill, via insiders in Longstreet's staff who wished to elevate Neill to the Commandant's post before Longstreet relieved him. Neill vehemently denies any involvement in the incident, citing that he was delayed by what he described as "unknown forces". An investigation of the logs onboard Neill's flagship, the U.S.S. Shenandoah, confirms that there was indeed an unknown force using Reydovan-style vessels favored by Artimus Devaneaux's forces during the Reydovan Civil War. The logo was the symbol of the Reydovan Empire with two crossed blades running underneath it; this has become known in recent days as Artimus' symbol, along with the "White Hand" which serves as the symbol of his footsoldiers. Could it be possible, then, that Artimus - who, by the time of Longstreet's "death", was slated for execution - intended to destabilize the SFMC before he began his master plan of conquest? He knew that Neill was disliked by most of Starfleet, including the returning Admiral Kiran Joshmaul; therefore, Artimus believed that Neill's removal was immiment upon his return. Much to his chagrin, Neill remained in command and eventually regained his reputation with Starfleet, who knew him as a master strategist. The Plan Against Artimus Neill's strategic genius eased his relations with Joshmaul as well, which also complicated Artimus' plans. Working together with Imperial commander-in-exile Kieran Devaneaux, Joshmaul and Neill came up with a plan of action, which involved dispatching General David Highland - who was made a brevet major general in the SFMC - to Reydovan Prime to destabilize Artimus' two-month reign of blood over the Empire. Highland was sent in on an unmarked transport, while Joshmaul worked to ensure that their mission remained a secret. He recruited infiltrators, including Captains Jasmine Blade of Starfleet and Ian Taylor of the Imperial Navy, to feed him information pertaining to Artimus' doings, and that information was fed to the resistance movement against Artimus' rule, and then to Highland himself. It was after hearing that Taylor, along with Imperial Guard commander Alexander Britanov, were captured that Highland made his move on Artimus' citadel, crushing Artimus' personal guard and forcing the dictator into exile. Neill and Highland were each awarded the highest honors each of their leaders could bestow: For Neill, the Medal of Honor from President Mikhail Britanov, and for Highland, the Order of Reydovan from Chancellor Joshua Underwood. Highland also received a Starfleet Marine Cross. Neill was also praised by Starfleet and Federation leaders for taking the initiative rather than waiting for whatever "diplomatic response" (or, as many felt, appeasement) that Britanov's predecessor, Victor Manchester, planned on giving to Artimus' threats of war. Category: RPG Category: Reydovan_Empire